Disable annoyanceware on UMX U696CL android from Assurance Wireless 10/2023

[FrontProlog]

Here is how to disable the persistent connection to "g21news.com" and to disable the two annoyanceware programs on the smartphone UMX U696CL, which Assurance Wireless was shipping to low-income households in USA as of October 2023. The two annoyanceware programs are "Top_News" and "Online Plus News", both of which are system apps. Top_News persistently connects to "g21news.com", which is likely a spy website under the control of the Chinese Red Army.

UMX U696CL was shipped with Android 11 as of last October, and hence the following instruction reflects the user interface of Android 11.

 

Settings app > Apps & notifications >
  See all 40 apps > Show system >
    Top_News
      Disable    <-- press first
      Force stop <-- press second
      notifications: off
    Online Plus News
      Disable    <-- press first
      Force stop <-- press second
      notifications: off
Chrome app > Settings > Advanced >
  Homepage
    On
    Open this page
      ( ) Chrome's homepage
      (o) about:blank

Notes:

"Show system" appears in the return vertical three-dot pulldown menu in the top-right corner.

For older models of UMX, mbam_mtbr posted a comment about 3 years ago in August, 2021 in the middle of a very lengthy thread at: 
https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/265795-hastopic-virus/page/4/#comment-1472338

The annoyanceware "Online Plus News" causes the news pop up on the lock screen, according to the above-mentioned comment by mbam_mtbr.

UMX is a Chinese brand, and its full name is "Ultimate Mobile Xperience".

The Chinese Red Army is officially known as "People's Liberation Army" (PLA). PLA contains the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, Rocket Force (nuclear bomb), and Strategic Support Force (space & cyberspace). PLA is a private army owned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The Chinese government does not have its own military forces independent of the Communist Party. One of the important operations of PLA is the spy intelligence, which includes manipulation of public opinion in other countries (including USA) so that China can take advantage of those countries. PLA is very likely controlling "g21news.com" secretly from behind, in order to influence US voters and others.

The spy intelligence of PLA certainly collects information secretly from other countries. However, their method of collecting information is peculiar and may be different from what you know from spy action movies like 007 James Bond.

There are two styles of espionage (information collection) by spies - Russian style vs Chinese style. The Russian intelligence first narrows down targets by studying and guessing where the desired information is held in the enemy, and then steal only quality information. This style sounds smart, and is what you are likely familiar with from spy action movies. In contrast, the Chinese intelligence does not narrow down targets but collects huge amount of information from vastly wide range of targets first, and then examine the huge collected information to find the desired information. The majority of the collected information may be garbage, but they eventually find precious information. This style does not sound smart, but laborious and diligent evilly.

According to Play Store, the annoyanceware Online Plus News collects personal info, device ID and other IDs, and shares them with other organizations, which very likely include the spy intelligence of PLA (the Chinese Red Army). PLA is also very likely using "g21news.com" to collect fingerprints of smartphones and other devices that access "g21news.com", in addition to their efforts to manipulate public opinion in USA and others.

By Chinese laws, every Chinese company is compelled to cooperate with the spy intelligence of PLA (the Chinese Red Army). UMX, the manufacturer of cheap smartphones, is a Chinese company. If PLA instructs UMX to embed "Top_News" and "Online Plus News" into their phones and to set up Chrome for automatic connection to "g21news.com" after PLA has developed "Top_News", "Online Plus News" and "g21news.com", then UMX cannot resist and has to obey PLA. And this must be the case.

By the way, Huawei is run by PLA, and is practically a part of PLA, no matter how strongly denied in official context. The government of USA is very concerned that a front company of the Chinese military forces has become so huge and is becoming dominant in the telecommunication industry worldwide.

 

[FrontProlog]

Correction and Addition to my above post

"Show system" appears in the vertical three-dot pulldown menu in the top-right corner.

After disabling "Top_News" and "Online Plus News" in Settings app, restart the phone, by pressing and holding the power button on the side of the phone for several seconds and tapping "Restart".